Great Little State

Sirs:

I am a South Carolinian by inheritance and don't like to see her slandered by such careless statements as you made in your recent [Aug. 24] article on the joint campaigning of Senatorial candidates. Your statements and inferences on the importance of the Nigger and Republican vote are quite correct as evidenced by the total vote of less than 2,000 for Mr. Hoover in 1932. You are surprisingly fair, for a Yankee publication, when you point out that some Niggers do vote and thus infer that none are denied the franchise.

But when you conclude that this type of campaigning is necessary in the State which has the highest percentage of illiterates in its population you flee from logic. With our Niggers not voting, as they don't, our electorate is nearly or quite as literate as your own borough of Manhattan. . . . Wouldn't the joint campaign system be as useful in Tammany's domain as among our good white Democrats?

P. O. WELLAM Pittsburgh, Pa.

Sirs:

Your treatment of the South Carolina political caldron rings true.

I wasted seven years there in a town called Greenville. Unless the honors go to backwoods sections of Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia I know of no more provincial and prejudice-ridden section anywhere.

The moronic faces your candids show fall prey every two years to the guileful exhortations of the Cole Bleases of different shades but all of the same ilk; tickling voters vanity; telling them they are the salt of the earth, the only remaining pure Anglo-Saxons here. . . .

Nevertheless there are a few cultured folks among them.

A. S. VOLPIN Houston, Tex.

Sirs:

Only occasion on which it [TIME] doesn't call a spade a spade is when it lets readers see from photographs and calling would be superfluous--as it reveals those spade-faced, hedge-headed, hookwormed whites of South Carolina to whom the likes o' Jimmy Byrnes has to appeal in order to get reelected to the U. S.

Senate. From a State of once aristocratic South Carolina has certainly come to the other extremes. . . .

RIENZI B. LEMUS Washington, D. C.

Sirs:

Your splendid coverage of politics in South Carolina . . . will delight many a native son and provoke many another. Your statement "the most overwhelmingly Democratic State in the Union" is interesting in light of the fact that your very story of the despond of politics in the Stale proves the contention of recent years that South Carolina has become "a too numerous democracy," which was the very thing that its founders would not have it, and which it was not in the heyday of its great statesmen and leaders.

But I must call you on one point in your story and that is the reference, "this (South Carolina) once aristocratic State." Why once? Although the State is full of riff-raff from the North Carolina mountains, poor white trash from Georgia's Tobacco Roads, and its own degenerate offspring of former plantation overseers and Yankee carpet baggers, there is still plenty of Palmetto aristocracy not only in the low country but in the sand hills and up country as well. True, much of the State's aristocracy is run down, but not all by a long shot. . . .

We have not had Wade Hampton's equal in the executive mansion recently, though we did have Richard I. Manning for our World War governor. Just visit the campus of the University in Columbia, the College of Charleston or the Citadel, if you want to see the present aristocracy of a great little State.

CHARLES EDWARD THOMAS Indianapolis, Ind.

Harpo Speaks

Sirs:

On p. 32 of TIME, Aug. 24, you state that Harpo Marx broke a 13-year public silence. I think this is a mistake. It is my impression that he addressed the audience in the case of a slight theatre fire in Detroit some years ago.

RALPH BLAKE THOMAS Chicago, Ill.

Sirs:

When Pantomimist Arthur ("Harpo") Marx broke a 13-year public silence in San Francisco recently (TIME, Aug. 24), it could not have been over 15 months at the most. Because I heard him speak from the stage of the Paramount Theater in Portland in May, 1935. The Marx Bros, had an act, "A Night at the Opera." "Harpo" surprised us all by making a curtain speech. . . .

ISIDORE WINKLEMAN Portland, Ore.

Sirs:

I CAN TALK BUT I HATE TO INTERRUPT GROUCHO. I SPOKE IN PUBLIC LAST YEAR IN PORTLAND WHEN I ASKED FOR A RAISE IN SALARY BUT I DON'T THINK ANYONE HEARD ME. I MAKE A PRACTICE OF SPEAKING EVERY TIME CHICO MAKES A GRAND SLAM, SO YOU CAN LOOK FOR ANOTHER SPEECH IN 1937. REGRET I CAN'T GET ZEPPO IN THIS WIRE.

HARPO MARX Culver City, Calif.

Three Nudes

Sirs:

TIME erred grievously in its issue of July 13, or that of Aug. 31. The former places Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase in Cleveland until Oct. 4; while your last issue transports the picture to Hollywood. I am prone to believe that it remains in Cleveland, having attempted to interpret it while attending the 20th Anniversary Exhibition there last week.

HARRY LIPPER, 2ND Philadelphia, Pa.

Marcel Duchamp painted three Nudes Descending a Staircase. Two are alike save for a slight variation in tonality. Walter Conrad Arensberg owns all three, lent one to the Cleveland show in July, kept the other two at his home in Hollywood where he entertained Painter Duchamp in August.--ED.

Adoration

Sirs:

As distributors of the most dominant and influential publication on the North American Continent, seldom, if ever, do you strike below the belt in your views and reviews of topics of interest, but if you say, as recorded in your Aug. 31 issue, as indicated by one Gerold C. Wichmann, that "U. S. War Veterans should cordially dislike President Franklin D. Roosevelt," then you are not giving your readers a true reflection of a cross-section of how most of the service men of the World War really feel toward the one man who prevented the Hoover Revolution--who makes it possible, today, for you to operate without having a brick or two thrown through your plate-glass windows by hungry and desperate men--who has removed the galling harness of the "noble experiment" from the body politic of an exasperated people --whose keen vision and unbending determination to extricate the men, women, and children of the country from the mire of disintegration and disillusionment, has made him the most beloved and exemplary character ever to occupy the nation's most important post--and so on-- countless incidents of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's vision illuminate the dark recesses of a nation's folly. . . .

Any man who wore the uniform of an American soldier, sailor or marine, who fails to cast his ballot for one Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President of these United States of America --every day that fellow stays out of an insane asylum he is away from home. Personally, I would walk on my hands & knees from Memphis to Washington, D. C., just for the opportunity of making known, in my very limited way, my admiration, adoration, and adherence to the policies of the World's Greatest Human Being-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

FRAYSER HINTON Former Capt. 42nd (Rainbow) Division Memphis, Tenn.

Sirs:

Gerold Wichmann says in TIME, Aug. 31, that the Veterans hate President Roosevelt. Perhaps some of them do. Here is one Veteran who does not and I am sure there are thousands of others.

Sure Roosevelt vetoed the Bonus bill and my Congressman voted against it. But I mean to vote for that same Congressman on Sept. "9 and for Mr. Roosevelt in November.

Instead of disliking F. D. R. I love him and feel that he should be loved and honored by every man, woman and child in America.

C. O. BROOKSHIRE Demorest, Ga.

Sirs:

Mr. Gerold C. Wichmann, in TIME, quotes Legion National Commander Johnson as follows: "The Bonus is not an issue." He adds that the two vetoes are. Why stop at two? We have the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover vetoes. . . .

Blackest page of all came with Hoover's eviction of the Bonus Marchers, wives and children, by gas and bayonet. Contrast that with the friendly reception accorded by Roosevelt and you will see some reason for the vet's leaning toward Democracy.

GEORGE I. SULLIVAN

Secretary to Congressman Dorsey Congress of the United States House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

Cayugas Sexton

Sirs:

Please give us the name and picture of the commander of the Cayuga. A man of his spunk deserves something better than complete anonymity.

Also: how did it happen that a U. S. Coast Guard boat was in European waters?

LAURENCE K. FRANK Grove City, Pa.

Commander Floyd Jeffe Sexton commands the Cayuga which was in Spanish waters on the Coast Guard's Annual cadet practice cruise.--ED.

Tully's Pal

Sirs: '

I always read the personality sketches in TIME with vast interest. They are, since Mencken faded from the Mercury, the best in America.

I'd like to call your attention to my pal, Ben Lindsey, now judge of the superior court in California. As you no doubt remember he came back to win by the largest vote ever given a man in this State. In line with publisher Harlan Palmer's surprising vote here this week, I might add that it could hardly have been possible without Judge Lindsey. Two of his most loyal friends out here are myself and Gene Fowler. He helped us both when we were struggling kids. And we remember. Roosevelt and Farley shoved the judge all over Washington--he came back here, broken in health and purse in spite of Roosevelt's smiles--and he went to work--and is now the most powerful man in the State--through the sheer love of people for one who never betrayed them. All-knowing as Abraham Lincoln, yet with the great heart of a child, when I begin to despair of men, I think of Ben Lindsey.

JIM TULLY North Hollywood, Calif.

Downtrodden Model

Sirs:

TIME for Aug. 24 contains an advertisement for Scripps-Howard Newspapers whose accompanying picture would, I think, bear interesting investigation as to its model. Is not the poor, downtrodden . . . adult female none other than our anti-taxation crusading Kathleen Norris?

My suspicions would not be as much aroused if I had not also seen her picture in the same or similar costume not long ago when she allegedly took part in an anti-something-or-other play or pageant.

. . . I really should be delighted to have this model's identity traced. If she is Mrs. Norris, then U. S. propaganda is going in for "the real thing."

TILLIE M. ANTHONY Sheffield, Ala.

Not Kathleen Norris but Charlotte Salkow, a Brooklyn professional, is the model for the peasant woman in the Scripps-Howard ad.--ED.

Cartons to Tins

Sirs:

Your reference to American Tobacco Company's radio program on p. 37 of TIME, Aug. 31, is quite interesting.

Luckies' President Hill claims at least 6,500,000 entries last week. One wonders if he is so naive as to believe that one adult out of every eleven in this country enters his contest. True, an immense number do, but one in eleven?

I personally know of one case where an adult entered no less than 22 cards in one week. I know dozens of others where anywhere from three to a score of entries have been made by one individual.

In every contest, of course, there is dishonesty, but unfortunately this one takes the prize. Due, I imagine, to the large percentage of winning entries, spurious though they may be, Mr. Hill has been obliged to discontinue his offer of a carton of cigarettes, and now gives a tin, thus saving about $150,000,000 a week, I estimate.

CHESTER BURGER Brooklyn, N. Y.

Gossip and Gable

Sirs:

We usually enjoy the "Hollywood Hotel" programs, but invariably shut off our radio whilst Louella introduces her "guests."

Thanks to TIME (Aug. 31), for expressing so well what we often have thought about gossip columnists of the Parsons type.

GEO. P. DALTONE Atlanta, Ga.

Sirs:

Long have I admired TIME'S choice of faces to adorn its covers, but pray tell what is Clark Gable's image doing on the Aug. 31 issue? He may have been the most newsworthy person in the world last week, but from the size of the article and the small mention made of him in it I judge that TIME could have found someone more interesting to greet its thousands of readers on Friday morning.

ROBERT LANDIS VANDENBERG Holland, Mich.

Sirs:

That grand picture of Clark Gable on your front cover (TIME, Aug. 31) was a real treat. And the very revealing article on radio programs in general, and the Hollywood hours in particular, was most interesting. The fact that Louella Parsons is in cahoots with Hearst is all many people will .want to know about her. The Parsons' introductions, gushy and mealymouthed, are thorns in an otherwise enjoyable bowl of soup. How different from those of De Mille, Hughes and the informal Mr. Crosby. . . .

LUCILE BULL Tampa, Fla.

Sirs:

The photograph of Clark Gable . . . is indeed the best I have ever come across. . . . I shall frame it and place it in a prominent position in my study. . . . However, upon close examination I believe that Gable should have taken a haircut before the picture was taken.

ABRAHAM BAUM Bronx, N. Y.

Headaches & Heartaches

Sirs:

In your article, "Dodo's Price," under Army & Navy, in the issue of Aug. 24, you refer to Farnsworth as "one of the most brilliant men ever to graduate from the U. S. Naval Academy."

The Register of Graduates of the U. S. Naval Academy shows that John S. Farnsworth graduated from the Naval Academy in. 1915, standing 123 in a class of 179.

The "Farnsworth Case" is causing enough headaches and heartaches to Naval Academy graduates without any exaggerations.

G. H. FORT U. S. Naval Academy Annapolis, Md.

Churchill-to-Europe

Sirs:

Regarding the article "Churchill-to-Europe," p. 26, TIME, Aug. 17, the writer is interested in knowing more about passenger accommodations out of this port. Would you kindly forward address to which I may write for more detailed information. Thanking you,

A. R. SANFORD Portland, Me.

Information regarding booking on the northernmost steamer service to Europe is to be had from Mr. A. M. Kirk, General Passenger Agent, Canadian National Railways, 360 McGill Street, Montreal, Canada.--ED.

Dead Heads

Sirs:

Your article captioned "Dead Head" (TIME, Aug. 31), describing the reconstruction of the probable appearance of a murdered man from his mutilated head, recalled to my mind a case in which an almost identical technique was employed successfully to bring about the identification of a homicidal victim whose face had been burned with acid and fire beyond all recognition. This case happened in Vienna, and the victim was a young woman. Viennese police had a sculptor reconstruct the face of the woman as it probably looked in life. From a photograph of this reconstruction, the woman was identified as Katherina Fellner, an actress, and the crime was subsequently solved. A more complete description of this case is to be found in Henry Morton Robinson's Science Versus Crime, p. 224-225.

RAYMOND BLAIR Sioux Falls, S. Dak.

Sirs:

May an arthritic and otherwise broken-down writer of detective tales take issue with the statement under the heading of Art (TIME, Aug. 31, p. 22), that "as far as police authorities could remember, it was the first time that an attempt had been made to solve a murder by reconstructing the probable appearance of a victim with the aid of a sculptured bust"?

In April 1922, acting Captain Grant Williams of the New York City police department was imported to Rockland County, handed a skull and other bones found on Cheesecock Mountain and asked to solve the mystery of its presence there. Sterilizing the skull, he placed it on an artificial neck made out of a curtain pole shaved down to fit the opening of the spinal column. Inside the skull on either side of the pole, he wedged two radio tubes to hold the head steady. The other end of the pole he fitted in a stand made of a soap box.

Greasing his fingers, Williams then coated the skull with modeling clay. He spread it thinly, following the contour of the bone evenly. Gradually he applied other layers, feeling his own jowls & forehead for guidance. The length of the nose he determined by measuring the distance between the bridge and the roots of the upper teeth: its contour by following the curve of the nasal bone. To get the fullness of the cheeks he held a pencil from the cheekbone down to the jawbone and allowed a little for normal rounding. He used the same instrument to determine the set of the eyes, holding it slantwise from the eye socket to the cheekbone. (If you do this to yourself, you will find it leaves just enough room for the eyelashes to brush against the pencil.)

The brows he determined by beginning at the inside corner of the eyesocket and following around the upper edge of the bone; the fullness of the lips by the protrusions and recessions of the upper and lower teeth. And so on. . . .

Until, 56 hours later, when he had dipped the flesh-colored clay in wax, inserted glass eyes and dressed the victim's original hair, which providentially had been recovered near the skull, he had before him the snub-nosed, sullen face of a temperamental Irish girl.

The rebuilt corpse was subsequently identified as Lillian White, an inmate of Letchworth. The identification was upheld by Justice Arthur S. Tompkins of the New York Supreme Court; and her murderer, Joseph Blunt, was subsequently caught in Maine.

Incidentally, in rebuilding the face of this murdered girl, Captain Williams was only duplicating the work he had done in 1916 in the case of Dominick La Rosa.

So novel was Captain Williams' work that it was fictionalized by Anthony Abbot, best-selling writer of detective novels in his About the Murder of a Startled Lady. I, myself, used it to good advantage in a short story entitled Corpus Delicti, one of a series now current in J. David Stern's Philadelphia Record. Quite probably other writers have used it to advantage too.

G. R. ALEXANDER San Diego, Calif.

To Readers Blair and Alexander, TIME'S thanks for remembering what New York police apparently had forgotten.--ED.

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